The present invention relates to a system for preparing a liquid beverage from a cartridge. In particular, the invention relates to the preparation of hot or cold drinks from cartridges containing one or more food ingredients.
Numerous types of system for preparing drinks from cartridges exist. The way in which the cartridge is inserted into the machine preferably needs to be fairly direct, free of complications, and allow the cartridge to be removed easily after use.
Patent Application WO 2006/082064 describes a device with a removable cartridge holder comprising an injector. The injection may be positioned in an offset manner on the surface of the cartridge; this makes it possible to optimize the flow of fluid within the cartridge and therefore to encourage, for example, the dissolving or dispersion of certain ingredients. However, one problem encountered by this device is linked to a “geyser” or “whale” affect at the moment when the injector of the cartridge holder is disengaged relative to the supply unit. This effect is expressed by a jet of pressurized liquid which escapes outside of the cartridge and through the injector, especially when the cartridge has a large headspace volume. This jet mainly originates from the sudden pressure release of the gases contained in the cartridge and that are compressed in the latter during the pressurization by the water injected into the cartridge. When the initial volume of gas in the cartridge is large, the sudden pressure release of the gas in the cartridge produces a jet of boiling liquid (“geyser” effect) through the perforation of the cartridge. Furthermore, at the moment of disengagement with the injection unit, the “geyser” effect is also promoted by the very small diameter of the injector.
Another problem results from the mode of insertion and closure of the cartridge holder which is not intuitive and involves several combined movements, in particular a translational insertion movement followed by a downwards pressing movement on the cartridge holder to bring the supply unit and the cartridge holder together relative to one another. One advantage would be to make the closure mode both intuitive and simple to use while providing closure safety taking into account the high pressures used in the cartridge.
The object of the present invention is to provide a solution to these problems.